The present invention relates generally to wheeled carts as used in various types of stores for carrying selected goods to a checkout stand and subsequently to a vehicle in the store parking lot, and is particularly concerned with carts having a wheeled base and a handle projecting upwardly from the rear end of the base.
There are many different types of wheeled carts which are used for carrying items from one place to another, including the types of cart normally used in various types of stores, as well as carts or dollies used in industrial applications for moving materials, and luggage carts. Most such carts have a wheeled base, which may or may not have a platform for supporting items, and a handle projecting upwardly from the rear end of the base. Shopping carts used in grocery stores and the like to transport a number of relatively small items generally have a basket spaced above the wheeled base. Other, larger carts are used to transport larger items, either in stores, warehouses, or elsewhere, such as building or construction materials, electronics or other equipment, furniture, domestic appliances or the like. These include platform or flat bed carts which have a base comprising a generally flat platform for supporting goods, and no other storage areas. Lumber carts are used in hardware or construction material stores for carrying beams, panels and the like.
Some types of carts, particularly shopping carts, are designed to nest together in lines for storage and transportation purposes. Others, such as lumber carts and flat bed carts, often are not nestable and therefore take up a considerable amount of storage space when not in use. Some nesting arrangements are relatively complex, including hinged rear walls or bases which must pivot upwardly or inwardly in order to permit nesting. This has the disadvantage that any damage to the pivoting arrangement or adjacent areas of a cart may result in jamming, such that two carts can no longer be readily separated.
U.S. Pat. No. 6,203,029 of Ondrasik describes a nestable flat bed cart in which the base platform or deck has a rear, hinged portion which can lift up in order to allow the forward end of the platform of another cart to be nested under it. This does conserve some space, but it does require the base platform to include moving parts, and does not allow the forward end of a rear cart to be nested fully up to the forward end of the cart in front.